Kristen KiefferBaldwinville, Massachusetts

Biography

I am a full-time studio potter, workshop presenter, and ceramics instructor working from my home studio in north central Massachusetts.

I was a kid in Louisville, KY, and went to high school and started college in Rockville, MD, where I lost my twang, had access to the Smithsonians, and began my pursuit of ceramics, receiving my Associates degree in Studio Arts majoring in Ceramics from Montgomery College in 1993. I then went on to receive my BFA in Ceramics from the N.Y.S.C.C. at Alfred University in 1995.

From there I moved to Detroit where I worked as an Intern in the Greenfield Village Pottery at the Henry Ford Museum, followed by an Artist-In-Residence position at John Glick’s Plum Tree Pottery in Farmington Hills, MI. The next year, I moved to Gatlinburg, TN to be in Artist-In-Residence at the Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts.

I went to graduate school at Ohio University in Athens, OH from 1998-2001 where I received my MFA in Ceramics. I moved to Massachusetts the summer after graduating to be an Artist-In-Residence at the Worcester Center for Crafts where I continue to teach adult community ceramics classes part-time. My studio is in our home northwest of Worcester where I live with my darlin’ hubby and our doxie Hannah, and do some summer gardening.

I have exhibited my work internationally in juried and invitational exhibitions, as well as taught workshops around North America at craft centers and universities. My work is in numerous private and public collections including the Taipei County Yingee Ceramics Museum in Taipei, Taiwan, the Guldagergård Museum of International Ceramic Art in Skælskør, Denmark, and the Fort Wayne Museum of Art in Fort Wayne, IN, and the San Angelo Museum of Fine Arts in San Angelo, TX.

Statement

I make pottery that brings elegance, sophistication, and merriment to the everyday. I have a diverse range of influences, and seek to marry the splendor of past eras with a modern desire for beauty and utility.

My influences for these Victorian modern porcelain vessels range from 18th century silver service pieces to couture clothing and from Art Nouveau illustrations to cake fondant. Such diversity combined with my own personality as a maker culminates into a unique style.

Graceful forms, refined patterns, and lively colors convey a design that is robust as well as elegant and joyful.

I am intrigued by the relationship between function and ornamentation: observing how decoration informs use, questioning the balance between utility and beauty, and appreciating that—in past eras—the two could indeed happily coexist in one object.

As I throw, alter and build with clay, I am drawing in three-dimensions, deciding what kind of line, edge and shadow will best accentuate the pot’s silhouette. I use repetitive pattern and accents to compliment and define form. These external embellishments are smaller, detailed lines and shapes giving strength to the bold lines defining the pot’s shape. My choice of mostly monochrome color (a cue from the metal objects I love) allows the pattern to coexist with but not dominate the form.

Within the parameters of the ceramic vessel, I am interested in investigating line, form and detail, coaxing a soft material that becomes hard to look soft again.